Japanese victory!

Peter and I played a very fun scenario tonight in which Commonwealth troops are attacking a surrounded, desperate Jap defense in 1942. His allied troops were deployed in two groups with good leadership. My guys were hidden in a cave complex with underground tunnels. The battle started out slow, with my sniper trying (unsuccessfully) to take out his leaders. Then he made the mistake of maneuvering a platoon near one of my caves. I made a very bold move in response. I surged five squads and a leader through the cave and jumped him in hand to hand combat. In short order, I had killed his platoon. But I had to face a potentially devastating return fire from another platoon with a heavy machine gun. Because I had surged an entire platoon in the assault, they were jam-packed in a very small space with little cover. Could have been a disaster.

Instead, he broke one of my squads, and then my guys were able to stealthily begin to disperse. Eventually, he killed one squad, but the rest survived and continued to pounce on his men, dispatching two more of his squads.

To Peter's credit, he didn't just give up at that point. Instead, he maneuvered a couple of platoons against my sniper, eventually overwhelming him and killing him. Then, he managed to sweep across the battlefield, capturing three objectives, while I clung to two others. By the end of the fight, he had attrited me down to a handful of troops, but I had killed almost enough to force him to surrender.

When the battle ended, I was way ahead in points and won the game. It was one hell of a fight. I think my decision to jump his platoon in the early fight was the game-winner.